Vanity Fair's Hitchcock Classics Photo Spreads

The latest issue of Vanity Fair includes a set of photo spreads featuring today's Hollywood actors recreating classic Hitchcock scenes in an article titled The 2008 Hollywood Portfolio: Hitchcock Classics. These photos are as good as anything Annie Leibovitz has photographed, which is amazing to say, and are quite a cool set to browse through. Everyone from Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow to Naomi Watts to Emile Hirsch and James McAvoy to Scarlett Johansson and Javier Bardem are featured in this set. Whether you love Hitchcock or whether you love A-list actors, you need to check these out. It's rare that we feature anything like this, but these are just too cool to pass up.

Thanks to the ohnotheydidnt blog for scanning the photos and to SlashFilm for showing us the way. For full-size versions, pick up a copy of the March issue of Vanity Fair on newsstands now. Otherwise, enjoy the photos below!

I really do love this photo series. My personal favorites are Seth Rogen in North by Northwest and Emile Hirsch and James McAvoy in Strangers on a Train. Those two both look great with the new actors and are just well-shot scenes as is. Hopefully Vanity Fair puts out some more awesome photo sets like this again in the near future.

Reader Feedback - 29 Comments

Fantastic! Really like these a lot! - Any chance they'll get released as a set on a poster?
P.S. Thanks for putting them up.

Dom on Feb 8, 2008

3

Hey Dom, unfortunately I don't think you're ever going to see them as a poster. They're in the latest issue of Vanity Fair as double page spreads, which is the only place they'll ever show up. They're meant to be a selling piece for that magazine, so that's why they'll only ever be in there. If you want nice big versions, I'd suggest finding a copy of Vanity Fair. I'm sure it's around $5 and you'll get all 11 nice and full-size already printed. 🙂

Wow, I love these photos. So difficult to pick a favorite. I wish they'd come out in poster form, but as you said Alex I know that will never happen. It's just like those Disney portrait series also from Annie Leibovitz. Beautiful, but such a shame they're only in a magazine.

Casting Scarlett Johanson in a role originated by Grace Kelly is like casting a pickup truck to play an Aston Martin.

Nic on Feb 8, 2008

9

Found these last night. Really great concept/shots.

Zach D. on Feb 8, 2008

10

Is that really Renee Zelweger? She doesnt look like herself at all! But all these fotos are fantastic

Maxine on Feb 10, 2008

11

Buying the magazine may very well be the only way to get a copy of these, but that's not the reason they'll never see print as posters.... I mean, how often do you think they'll sell this particular issue?

i think they are absolutely magnificent, The whole old movie concept really brings that old school glamor to such a new age hollywood.. Well done for finding these!

kara on Feb 12, 2008

14

Marion Cotillard in Psycho...my fave French actress in a most classic film o^-^o

Jun on Feb 13, 2008

15

the ones with seth rogen and naomi watts really are good in my opinion. the half with robert downey jr. seems good too, just cut out gwyneth. and the rest have their old school "oh dear is me" theme to them but then again that old school theme just sets them back to not what they should be.

Jack Moore on Feb 14, 2008

16

i'm sorry but the last set with Marion Cotillard is just crappy. this is what i get from it: 1st picture; i love water!, second picture RAWR, blah blah fifth picture i dying but i still love water! 7th picture; i in fetal position dying HEY there's water!! blah ninth picture; i is dead. just crappy modeling in my opinion.

jack moore on Feb 14, 2008

17

i liked the marion cotillard one lol
but i also like how renee zellweger didn't even look like herself which is incredible. also, i like jodie foster's the birds

Adrienne on Feb 14, 2008

18

I really like Tangwei who is a new Chinese actress star.

Ellen on Feb 14, 2008

19

Pathetic. Yet one more reminder of how 'small' actors are today. Hey Vanity Fair editors: why not show the original, real-deal photos with the people who created these iconic roles, next to the insipid wanna-bes?
Whoops. Can't do that, because then the jig would be up.
If the actors you chose to mimic great actors are themselves so wonderful, why is it that people 50 years from now won't be doing similar knock-offs of their work? Oh, yeah, that whole 'small actor' thing.

Brad on Feb 18, 2008

20

Well, Brad's a bit of a wank.
A reminder of small actors? Yeah, that's why most have been nominated and/or won Oscars. It's an homage and the fact that you need to be told that is pretty sad. They're fun, beautifully captured tributes to these classic pieces and your vitriol comes off as more than a little cracked.
Lose out on another audition, eh?

It's a great concept. I'm enthralled with old, classics films so this was nice to see. I'm just wondering how many Vanity Fair readers looked at this and didn't even know what it was all about. This is another reminder of how perfect Joan Fontaine, Jimmy Stewart, Kim Novak, Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, and the rest were flawless in their roles. I mean, there's no comparison.

Jackie on May 3, 2008

25

well they should come out as posters i want the strangers on a train i like james mcavoy and that is an awasome shot!

apers on Jul 9, 2008

26

1972
FRENZY…Director…Alfred Hitchcock…
I am now working with the Master of filming.
Where I was born in Islington London, there was a huge warehouse type building on the corner of the Grand Union Canal in New North Road. (Very near the North Pole Pub)
It was in fact a film studio. As a kid in the forties I used to swim in the canal as it cost nothing entrance fee. (You had to watch out for the large Mocking birds floating on top of the water)
I think the studio was called Gainsborough and as a kid I remember strangely dressed people popping into the pub on the corner of New North Road and Elizabeth Avenue. (Supporting Artists of the past)
Anyway, that’s where Alfred Hitchcock made many of his films.
(I could have bumped into him while I was going swimming and he was popping in for a swift half. It’s a small world)
ONTO THE FILM…
I was now the not so proud owner of an old Bedford van and was booked by the 2nd A.D. on Frenzy to report to Covent Garden fruit market for the start of a weeks work...
There must have been fifty supporting artists working that week as market porters.
It was thirty years ago but some people still come to mind, like Big Mo Dunster who was stand/in on films for Donald Sutherland. Jimmy (the crow) Hammilton, Eddie Dillon And Bill (the body) Hemmings.
I remember the day that Donald Sutherland came down to speak to Mo about a private matter and got into one of the shots.(Everyone wants to be in a Hitchcock movie)
Mo has done well for himself and now lives in the U.S.A. looking after the Sutherland clan. Best wishes Mo, love Boysie.
Mr. Hitchcock was not very well while he was directing this film and would line up all the shots he wanted and leave the running around to his 1st A.D. (Colin Brewer, I think)
We filmed all around the market for the next week or so loading vans and unloading vans (Including my old Bedford) but I was more interested in watching the Master at work. Then near the end of the shoot in the market it happened.
The Master looked at me then at the 1st A.D. and said…
‘’Tell that man to climb up on that lorry and start unloading it’’
(‘’That man’’) he said my name, I was being directed by the great man himself.
We shot a lot of the inside of the film at Pinewood. Then some stuff with the Bedford Following a potato lorry up and down major roads and that was it.
I was sorry to see the end of the filming but it’s one film I will never forget.
If you’re looking down from that great studio in the sky Mr. Hitchcock ‘’That Man’’ will say hello when he gets there.
Aitch,

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